Digital Connection Study

Your Role in the Digital Connection Group
  • You and your spouse should exchange sexual digital media regurlarly throughout the week - these will include photos, video, text messages etc.
  • You get to choose for the most part what to share with your partner, but there are specific weekly content requirements that are assigned to you.
  • You are expected and assigned to send both explicit and teasing content each week.
  • Teasing content includes playful texts, lingerie, seductive posing, partial nudity, partial strip tease, etc.
  • Explicit content includes full nudity, close up nudity, “dick pics”, masturbation videos, elegant nudes, full strip teases, more sexually graphic texts, etc.
  • In terms of videos or photos, there will be 6 photos and 6 videos assigned each week total. You are of course allowed and encouraged to send more than the required amounts.
    • Note that these would likely be very easy to accomplish while completing activities for other studies. They are not expected to be professional quality content and should not take large amounts of time during your week.
  • Text message requirements will vary based on the week and may range from 1 expected text to a short conversation.
  • Whatever you send to your partner for the study must be something that you yourself created and did not obtain from any third party sources.

Both you and your partner would be required to complete daily and weekly questionnaires.

To ensure privacy and confidentiality, all conversations and media shared within this study will remain private between you and your spouse. No external parties will have access to the information exchanged during this project and the only recorded information will be from the more generalized information you share during the questionnaires.

Guidelines
  • Sharing of digital content must be done on a weekly basis as stated above
  • A secure encrypted form of communication should be used. We recommend iMessages or WhatsApp given they allow the sending of encrypted media content.
  • Whatever you send to your partner for the study must be something that you yourself created and did not obtain from any third party sources.
Methodology with Specific Focus

There are not many studies done on the healthy effects of sexting within a relationship, but those that have explored the topic of sexting have found:

  1. Deeper Personal Connections: Frequent flirting and teasing has been shown multiple times to strengthen a relationship. Studies have found this keeps individuals feeling more connected with their partner and improves happieness within a relationship.
  2. Improved Self-Image: This not only applies to sexting, but to frequent photo and video taking of oneself. This is due to the increased frequency of making yourself look pleasing in the content created which shapes the way one views theirself.
  3. Enhanced Sexual Expression and Intimacy: Sexting allows for more open and honest expression of sexual desires which leads to improved communication and understanding between partner. This in turn creates a deeper level of intimacy and trust within a relationship.
Areas of Exploration Beyond Known Benefits
While current research demonstrates many potential benefits of sexting, our study aims to delve deeper by focusing on sexting itself instead of just communication:
  1. Improved Self-Confidence: As mentioned above frequently noticing yourself helps to improve your self-image, but also receiving frequent complicments by a partner which sexting will invite. We aim to see how much sexting affects one's self-confidence in their body and sexuality.
  2. Improved Partner Connection: Being willing to share sensitive content with your partner allows for more deeper connections and trust. We predict that more frequent sharing of these intimate things with your partner will allow for improved relationships and better communication.